H. Douglas KLEMME
KLEMME, MCCORMICK
Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/27/2008 at 09:30:39
Source: Search and Discovery - November 2002
H. DOUGLAS KLEMME
(1921–2001)
By Anny B. Coury and Gregory Ulmishek
Denver, ColoradoH. Douglas Klemme died on August 9, 2001 in his home in Bondville, Vermont. His wife, Lila, lost a loving husband and companion. His daughters, Sherry, Heidi, and Barbara, lost a proud and supportive father. His grandchildren lost an adoring and doting grandfather. The petroleum geology community lost one of its most enthusiastic and imaginative workers. The world of art lost a creative and prolific painter. But Doug’s friends and colleagues lost a genuinely warm, humble, and sensitive human being.
Doug was born in Belmond, Iowa, and graduated with a B.A. degree from Coe College in Cedar Rapids. During World War II, he joined the 87th Mountain Infantry and served as a captain in campaigns in the Aleutians, the Apennines, and the Alps. He was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He married Lila Corrine McCormick, whom he met at Coe College. After World War II, Doug graduated from Princeton with a Ph.D. in geology. He was employed by Standard Oil Company of California (Chevron) and worked as an exploration geologist in the western United States. From 1952 to 1968 he was a key explorationist for Amoseas, an affiliate of Chevron and Texaco. During these years, he visited many of the world petroleum basins, evaluated their petroleum potential, and designed the exploration efforts. He served as exploration manager in Libya, Indonesia, and Nigeria and directly participated in the discovery of many important fields, most notably the Beda field in Libya. From 1970 to 1982, Doug was senior vice president and director of exploration for Weeks Petroleum. This new position permitted him to greatly expand his onsite knowledge of the world petroleum basins and appreciate their geologic diversity. During these years, the industry made great progress in the organic geochemistry of petroleum source rocks, which added a new dimension to understanding the history of oil and gas in petroleum basins. Studying a variety of petroleum basins, he became interested in the relationship between the type of basin architecture and the abundance and distribution of giant fields. He clearly understood that future resources of oil and gas strongly depend on the industry’s success in locating and developing these fields. He developed a basin classification scheme with the belief that it could be an important clue for predicting these fields and focusing exploration efforts. These two topics, the worldwide distribution of giant fields and basin classification, attracted Doug’s interest through his entire life, and he continued to improve and modernize his models as new developments in plate tectonics, organic geochemistry, and basin analysis were developed. From 1982 to 1996, Doug was a consultant specializing in basin analysis and an important contributor to the World Energy Resource Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. He continued to modify and improve his basin classification scheme. He compiled a large database showing how the basin’s petroleum richness, and particularly the abundance of large and giant fields, is related to basin type, characteristics of traps and reservoirs, source rock parameters, and dynamics of oil and gas generation. He successfully used this database to develop analogs that would assist in the assessment of undiscovered hydrocarbon resources. Doug’s knowledge of petroleum geology was encyclopedic. He was fortunate to have an incredible memory and an outstanding analytical mind. His participation in discussions concerning the petroleum potential of a specific region usually brought new insights and led to a better understanding of the problem. A brilliant geologist, Doug was also a charming man and an interesting and friendly companion. He will be greatly missed by his friends and co-workers. The petroleum geologic community lost one of its best and most productive members.
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